Today’s Yahrtzeits & History – 18 Tishrei

Rav Nachman of Breslav, born to Feige, grand-daughter of the Ba’al Shem Tov, and Simcha, son of Nachman of Horodenka, the Ba’al Shem Tov’s close friend, in Mezhbizh. (1772-1810). He contracted tuberculosis at some point between 1806 and 1810, a period during which he lost his son, daughter, and wife. He moved from Breslav to Uman on May 9, 1810, and died there October 16.

Rav Betzalel Reneshburg, author of the notes known as Hagaos Harav Reneshburg on the lateral columns of the Vilna Shas (1820).

Rav Yona Mertzbach (1900-1980), Mashgiach of Yeshiva Kol Hatorah, and a central figure in the redaction of the Encyclopedia Talmudica. He was also renowned as an authority on the Hebrew grammar and language, and also on the authentic German minhagim. The Nazis assumed power in Germany on the 3rd of Shevat (January 30), 1933. Darmstadt, the city where Rav Mertzbach was then rav, was the first city in the country where the Nazis closed all Jewish shops for an entire day, on the 28th of March. Their pretext was that the opening of the Jewish stores, “endangered communal order and tranquility.” Approximately 300,000 Jews left Germany before the war and another 150,000 managed to escape after the war started, whereas approximately 160,000 perished in concentration and forced labor camps. Four months after Kristallnacht, the family arrived in Eretz Yisrael on Shushan Purim, 1939.

Rav Ahron HaLevi Soloveichik, a scion of the great Soloveitchik family, son of Rav Moshe Soloveitchik, and grandson of Rav Chaim Soloveitchik, the famed Rosh Yeshiva of Volozhin and Rav of Brisk. Rav Ahron was born in Khaslavichy, a city in western Russia. When the communists invaded Khaslavichy in 1919, the Soloveitchiks escaped to Poland. As a young man Rav Ahron gained from such Torah giants as the Chafetz Chaim and the Imrei Emes. When the Soloveitchik’s moved to New York in 1928 with Rav Moshe assuming the position of Rosh Yeshiva in Yeshivas Rabbeinu Yitzchak Elchonon, young Reb Ahron continued learning under the tutelage of his father who gave him semicha. He was taught English by Rav Avigdor Miller, who later would serve as the Mashgiach at Yeshivas Rabbeinu Chaim Berlin. In the early 1950s he became a magid shiur in Yeshivas Rabbeinu Chaim Berlin under the leadership of Rav Yitzchak Hutner. After the petira of his father in 1941, Reb Ahron lived in Washington Heights to aid his mother. In 1966, he came to Chicago as Rosh Yeshiva of Bais Medrash LaTorah, Hebrew Theological College in Skokie, a post he held until 1974. He eventually left that institution and started Yeshivas Brisk of Chicago. In 1983, a debilitating stroke left Rav Ahron partially paralyzed. His body racked with pain, his mind was still sharp and he continued his shiurim, despite tremendous physical difficulties. After the passing of his brother Rav Yosef Ber he would
travel each week to Yeshiva Rabbeinu Yitzchak Elchanan to give shiurim in his late brother’s stead. (1917-2001)

Rav Meshulam Igra (1801). He taught Rav Naftali Tzvi Ropshitz during the latter’s early years. He authored Shus Rav Meshulam Igra. He was highly respected by the Gaonim of his age, Rav Nosson Adler, among others.

Rav Yeshaya Schneelbalg, Rav of Bnei Brak Re’em (2002)

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